In a snowy night in Pullman, WSU kept its bowl hopes alive on the shoulders of a redshirt freshman.

Connor Halliday led the Cougars to a 37-27 victory against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Halliday shattered Drew Bledsoe’s freshman record of 385 passing yards, as Halliday went for 494 passing yards against ASU.

Halliday, who was being recruited by ASU, was not their first quarterback option, after the game he said ASU’s Head Coach might have made the wrong choice.

“I’m not going to go somewhere where I’m not their first option and I think that just goes to show you maybe Mr. (Dennis) Erickson made a mistake,” Halliday said.

Arizona State wasted no time as returner Jamal Miles took the opening kickoff 95 yards to the house to make it 7-0. It was the fourth kickoff return for a touchdown against WSU this year.

After the offense was stopped on third down, the defense responded by forcing a three-and-out on the Sun Devils’ first offensive possession.

On the Cougars third offensive possession, Halliday came into the game and immediately made his presence felt.

In 12 seconds, Halliday lobbed a deep pass and found sophomore Marquess Wilson streaking down the left side of the field for an 85-yard touchdown. On the ensuing extra point attempt, the Cougs had a bad snap and couldn’t get off the kick.

Halliday said the team has been working on that specific play for weeks and they finally got the look they wanted.

“We’ve been looking to get that for five weeks,” Halliday said. “I’m just lucky I’m the one that got it. That’s kind of like hitting the lotto.”

On the play, Wilson eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards once again, as he gained 1,006 yards in his freshman campaign. Wilson joins former Cougar Jason Hill as the only other player to gain 1,000 receiving yards in back-to-back seasons.

Wilson said the team has to keep working for their final two games of the season, but he was excited to break the 1,000 yard barrier.

“It’s always great to break that 1,000 yard meter,” Wilson said. “But we just got to keep working, I’ve got to keep working- help the team out and get better on the field or off the field.”

After the defense forced an ASU punt, the Cougars moved the ball into Sun Devils territory, but redshirt freshman Rickey Galvin fumbled and ASU recovered.

Arizona State took advantage of the turnover as they extended their lead to 10-6 with a 39-yard field goal by kicker Alex Garoutte.

The Cougars answered back as they closed the gap to 10-9 on a 39-yard field goal by kicker Andrew Furney. The field goal was set up by a 31-yard pass from Halliday to senior Isiah Barton.

ASU added onto their lead with a 22-yard field goal by Garoutte. The Sun Devils converted on a fourth down earlier in the drive as they went 52 yards in nine plays.

The Cougars would take the lead towards the end of the first half as Halliday led the offense 74-yards down the field. He capped the drive with a 23-yard pass to Wilson for his second touchdown on the day.

Arizona State wasted little time at the end of the first half as they executed a five-play, 56-yard drive in only 59 seconds to regain the lead at 20-16. ASU’s Kendall Marshall found the endzone from two yards out to end the half.

The Cougars regained the lead on their second drive after half. After driving 80 yards down the field, Wilson hauled in another touchdown. They converted a crucial fourth-and-one play as Halliday found Andrei Lintz for a first down in the middle of the drive.

The Halliday-Wilson connection sealed the drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to give the Cougs a 23-20 lead.

“When you get on a roll and your confidence starts growing you start making plays,” Head Coach Paul Wulff said. “Sometimes certain people give you more confidence with the way they play. I think Connor obviously gave that tonight with some early throws.”

ASU wasted little time as they regained the lead.

After an unnecessary celebration call against Wilson, WSU kicked off from its own 15 yard line. The Sun Devils started their drive from WSU’s 40 yard line and marched the ball 40 yards in a little over two minutes.

The drive was capped as ASU’s Brock Osweiler found Gerrell Robinson for a 16-yard touchdown.

After ASU drove the ball deep into Cougar territory, the Cougar defense stood strong. The Sun Devils failed to convert on third-and-inches and rather than taking a field goal, they sent the offense back onto the field.

The Cougar defense held and forced a turnover on downs.

WSU’s offense took advantage of the Sun Devil miscue and drove the ball 89 yards down the field. Halliday sealed the drive with a 19-yard pass to Barton to give the Cougs a 30-27 lead.

Arizona State drove the ball inside the Cougar five yard line on their following possession. After WSU forced fourth down, the Sun Devils missed the 22-yard field goal attempt.

WSU sealed the game as Halliday executed an 11-play 80-yard drive with a couple huge completions to Wilson. Carl Winston added the exclamation point to the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to extend the Cougar lead to 37-27.

Halliday described his last pass to Wilson after the game.

“We ran a double-move, a stutter route,” Halliday said. “He beat the corner but the safety was over the top of him so I threw it as hard as I could to the back shoulder and hoped Marquess made a play for me, and he made one heck of a catch. That was one of the best catches I’ve seen.”

The Cougars sealed the victory as they recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.

Halliday’s 494 passing yards were the second all-time in WSU history to only Alex Brink. Wilson finished the game with 223 receiving yards and his bumped his season total to 1,197, breaking Brandon Gibson’s season record of 1,180 yards.